This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Development of XML standards for the representation and transmission of glycan structural information. Integrated data processing demands facile information exchange between databases, web services, and other applications. We are developing a standard called GLYDE (GLYcan Data Exchange) using eXtensible Markup Language (XML) that can be understood by commonly used parsing tools, making it accessible to a wide range of potential applications. The utility of GLYDE, our XML format for the unambiguous representation of glycan structures, was recognized by scientists at the German Cancer Research Center and the Consortium for Functional Glycomics. Subsequent discussions led to the initiation of an informal collaboration aimed at developing GLYDE for use as a standard format for the digital transmission of glycan structural information between laboratories. Continuing correspondence has led to a greater appreciation of the issues that must be solved to make a truly useful representational standard. The collaboration emphasizes the continued development of GLYDE-II, which is much more flexible and enables the representation of glycans and glycoconjugates at different levels of granularity.